Sweden is third most 'connected' nation

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A new report by the International Telecommunication Union has ranked Sweden in third place, behind South Korea and Denmark, in terms of access to information and communication technology.

ITU, which is part of the United Nations, issues the report every year to measure ICT development. The 2014 report states that over three billion people around the world are able to connect to the internet.

For the second year in a row, Sweden's Nordic neighbour Denmark topped the chart after dislodging South Korea in 2013. Sweden has ranked third for the last three years that the report has been carried out.

The report states that internet usage has grown by 6.6 percent during 2014 but that there are still 4.3 billion people without access to the web.

“This important report is a critical part of the global ICT development process. Without measurement, we cannot track progress, which is why ITU gathers ICT statistics for 200 economies across over 100 indicators," ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun I. Touré said in a press release.

Experts who carried out the report stated that by 2014 there will be seven billion mobile subscriptions but the figure is skewed as many people have multiple contracts with different providers.

According to the report that are still 450 million people around the world who don't have access to a mobile phone service.

In July The Local reported that Sweden topped the Nordic charts in terms of smartphone use, with 75 percent of people aged 16 or over now owning one of the devices.

Smartphone use continues to increase in Sweden with the number of users increasing by 18 percent in the space of a year.

ITU put together the index by looking at the availability and usage of the internet and mobile phones as well as the skills needed to use this technology in 166 different countries.